Sliding door trackway



March o. c. M GARY El AL SLIDING DOOR TRACKWAY Filed May 6, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l 0. 6'. llfafiar WJfMc 6w March 1934- o. c. M GARY El AL SLIDING DOOR TRACKWAY Patented Mar. 6, 1934 UNITED STATES QPATENT' OFFICE SLIDING nooa raaoxwar Oscar C. McGary and William A. McGary, Hartford City, Ind.

Application May 6, 1930, Serial No. 450,249

1 Claim.

and supporting wheels connecting the door therewith are provided.

The invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, with the understanding, however, that the invention is not confined to any strict conformity with the showing of the drawings but may be changed or modified so long as such changes or modifications mark no material departure from the salient features of the invention as expressed in the appended claim.

In the drawings:

Figure 11s a view in elevation of the interior of a door structure constructed in accordance with the present invention, part of the surrounding wall structure being broken away.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken vertically through the central portion of the door substantially on the line 2-2 of Figure 1 showing the same in opened position.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken substantially upon the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken upon the line 44 of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a longitudinal sectional view through one end of the cable pulley supporting cylinder showing the supporting shaft therein and the control spring therefor.

Figure 6 is a vertical sectional view through the locking device for the door structure.

Referring more particularly to the drawings wherein like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the numeral 1 indicates generally a wall of a building such for example as a garage or a warehouse in which is formed the door opening 2.

For the installation of the door structure embodying the present invention the inner face of the building wall adjacent each side of the door opening has mounted thereagainst the upright beam 3 to the upper end of which is attached one end of a substantially horizontal beam 4 which extends inwardly from the door opening. The forward end of each of the horizontal beams supports a block 5, the purpose of which will become apparent hereinafter.

Adjacent the inner face of each of the vertical door beams 3 is a pair of T-beams each of which is indicated by thenumeral 6, each pair of ,oo

beams constituting a trackway at one side of the door opening. As shown'in Figures 3 and 4 these beams are disposed in spaced parallel relation with their heads in the same vertical plane so that the opposed edges of the heads form a,

roller guide 7 therebetween.

The laterally extending web portions 8 of the T-beams are connected at intervals with spacing sleeves 9 through which, and through the T-beam webs, there extends a securing bolt 10.

At suitable intervals throughout the length of each track the pair of T-beams making up each track is supported by a bracket which'is indicated as a whole by the numeral 11, this bracket consisting of a central portion 12 having a lateral extension 13 at each end which lies transversely" of the web of one of the T-beams, and a ter-' minal portion 14 extending from one of the angled ends of the portions 12 and parallel with the portion 12 for attachment to an adjacent beam 3 or 4. As shown in Figure 3 the supporting brackets each has a spacer sleeve 9 arranged between the angled portions 13 thereof so that the securing bolt 10 which maintains the sleeve in position may also serve to secure the angled portions of the bracket to the T-beams.

Each pair of T-beams 6 which makes up a track at one side of the door opening curves inwardly at its upper end and extends back into the building away from the door opening beneath the adjacent horizontal supporting beam 4 and at a slight upward inclination. It will, of course, be understood that the brackets 11 are used to maintain the track beams in the proper relation beneath the horizontal supporting beams 4 as are used to secure the track beams to the upright beams 3.

As shown in Figure 1 the door structure is made up of a series of transverse panels each of which is indicated by the numeral 15, these panels being arranged in edge to edge relation and con-" 'coil spring 31 housed in the sleeve.

to which it is secured by bolts 18 while the outer end which extends beyond the adjacent edge of the door panel passes through a supporting angle bracket 19 attached to the face of the door panel. These angle brackets 19 serve to secure the stub shafts firmly in position on the door panel.

Upon the outer end of each stub shaft 17 there is mounted a circumferentially grooved roller.20 which positions between the spaced opposed edges of an adjacent pair of track T-beams, in the manner shown in Figure 3.

Mounted upon the blocks 5 at the top of the door structure, to extend across from one side to the other thereof, is a bar 21 each end of which is suitably flattened as indicated at 22 and shown in Figure 5 to facilitate its being positioned firmly upon the adjacent supporting block 5 to which it is secured by bolts 23.

Surrounding the shaft or bar 21 is a tubular shaft 24 which is suitably spaced from the shaft 21 by bearings 25. Within the tubular shaft 24 at each end thereof and surrounding the shaft 4 21, is a heavy coiled spring 26 one end of which is secured to the shaft 21 while the other end is secured to the tubular shaft 24 as shown in Figure 5.

The shaft 24 carries at each end a pulley 27 which is suitably secured thereto so that rotation of the pulley cannot take place independently of the shaft. Each of the pulleys 27 has secured thereto one end of a door lift cable 28, the cable extending downwardly along the adjacent edge .of the door and having its other end secured to the lower part of the bottom panel 15.

The counterbalance springs 26 are so disposed and adjusted that when the door structure is drawn downwardly to closed position and the cables 28 are unwound from the pulleys 27, the springs will be twisted and placed under tension so that when the door structure is raised the natural tendency of the spring to unwind will materially assist in moving the door to the overhead position shown in Figure 2.

It will be readily seen that due to the inclined position of the track rails 6 only a small amount of shift will be required to start the door on its downward movement when it is desired to close the same.

Extending through the central portion of one of the lower panels 15 of the door is a lock operating shaft 29 which passes through a sleeve 30 mounted upon the outer face of the door and a The outer end of this shaft 29 carries a handle 32 which bears against the outer end of the spring 31 in the manner shown, the spring extending slightly from the sleeve 30 in which it is housed.

Upon the inner face of the panel there is secured a plate 33, preferably in vertical position, which has an elongated depression 34 in the face thereof through the center of which the shaft 29 projects. Overlying the inner face of this plate 33 which is fixed to the panel is an oscillatable plate which is of substantially the same design as the plate 33. This oscillatable plate also has an elongated central depressed portion 36 which may align with and position in the depression 34 of the underlying fixed plate. The shaft 29 passes through and is fixed against rotation in the plate 35 at the central part of the depression 36 as shown and from this it will be readily seen that the spring 31 acts through its pulling action upon the shaft 29 to draw the offset or depressed portion 36 of the oscillatable plate 35 into the depression 34 of the fixed plate 33 when these depressed or offset portions are brought into alignment.

The oscillatable plate 35 carries a pair of elongated bolts 37 which extend in opposite directions in the manner shown and which are also attached to the plate adjacent opposite sides and opposite ends thereof. It will thus be seen that upon oscillation of the plate in one direction the bolts 37 will be retracted from beneath the pins 19 where they are positioned when the door is locked and upon oscillation of the plate in the other direction they will be projected to the locked position beneath these pins. A stop pin 38 is mounted on the door at one side of the oscillatable plate 35 to limit its rotary movement in the direction which projects the bolts 37 to the locked position.

The oscillatable plate 35 has pivotally attached at one end a hasp 39 which, when the bolts are in the locked position described, may be swung into engagement with an adjacent staple so that a suitable padlock may be employed for securing the lock against further movement.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is:

A track structure for a sliding door having circumferentially grooved rollers mounted thereon and projecting beyond opposite side edges, comprising a pair of T-beams having their heads disposed in the same plane with the outer surfaces directed toward the adjacent door body and with their adjacent edges in spaced relation to loosely receive the said rollers therebetween, spacing sleeves disposed between the web portions of said beams, and supporting brackets for maintaining the beams in set position each comprising a bar adapted to connect the beam webs, a laterally extending portion at each end of the bar designed to overlie one face of an adjacent beam web, and a portion extending from one of said laterally directed portions against the rear face of one side of a beam head and substantially parallel with the bar, for securing the bracket to a supporting structure.

OSCAR C. McGARY. WILLIAM A. MCGARY. 

